EPTThe Format: I thought that this was pretty excellent this year. TI4's not letting every team get to the main stage proved to be a big mistake, as VG and VP made their way through the lower bracket for many rounds to place in the top 6. Just because a team is down doesn't mean that they should be out. I'm sure that the fans at Key Arena were happy to see their favorites play at least one game on the main stage. I like the increased number of qualifier teams. CDEC and MVP.P proved that even teams that are close to the TI cutoff are still playing good enough dota to take games off of top teams. Next year I'd like to see a similar format with perhaps 10/6 or 8/8 balance of invitees to qualified teams.
The Games: Pretty top tier. We saw some great action at all stages of the tournament, and it never felt unwatchable. Hero and strategy variety was kind of disappointing. The same first 4 bans with a 1/2 hero difference occasionally led to Gyro and lina taking over (4 gyro games in grand finals for fear) but at least these heroes promote action and each team had their own unique flavor for each hero. We saw some quality techies play and a few pocket strategies (though most failed miserably). It was pretty impressive that EG turned techies into a respect ban and opened up their drafting options.
The Compendium: I think we have reached hat saturation. I'm sure that Volvo will prove me wrong next year but 3 sets of immortals along with 2 sets from chests and the Collector's caches was a lot. The challenges/coin redemption was nice, but I felt that it was the only feature the compendium offered. I was expecting the cards again after the wild cards were over and was disappointed when they didn't show up. They were a cool way to get to know the players and the necessity for trading brought a community aspect to the collecting. You had incentive through the gems to get all of your favorite team and it was fun. I'd like for next year Valve to take an extra look at how to create the compendium and put more active components than "buy a ton of stuff."
The Presentation: Mostly great. Not too much delay between games, the group stage with 3 merlinis (PogChamp) and synderen was great. Winter was excellent at analysis. The player videos ranged in quality, but the best were incredible. Definitely a great addition and the one per team rule allowed people to get behind any team for a personality, which was great and probably helped even out the crowds. Once we got to the main event the actual broadcasters brought their A-game. Can't think of any sub-par performances from the casters and the variety and rotation helped keep everyone fresh. Redeye was an incredible host at the front desk, Merlini was solid there as well. Only thing I would have changed would be less Nahaz. Dude is clearly very passionate about the game, but talks a disproportionate amount to what he adds to the conversation. Would have liked to see more Winter here.
Kaci as an event inspector/interviewer doesn't really do it for me. She doesn't know enough about the game to really engage the fans in a way they would understand. Are there no dota players with decent enough stage presence to talk to people? It's just kind of off-putting when the interviewer doesn't know the hero the fan is cosplaying as or the members of the fan's favorite team. Next year I'd like to see a better host, maybe even multiple hosts so one person isn't carrying the burden (Soe or 2gd comes to mind) and more shots of the fans creativity (cosplays, the workshop artists section, signs at the main event).
USA Versus the World and why this Isn't a Bad Thing: Especially near the end of the tournament, you would see so many people excoriating the fans at the main event, as well as twitch chat and forums, for their Western bias. All I can say is what did you expect? It is human nature to root for people who you can relate to, and the language barrier amplifies this. Western teams are generally the ones that we follow all year. They're the ones that play and stream when we're awake. They're the ones whos twitters and interviews we read, and almost every Western fan's favorite teams are Western. Obviously we are going to cheer for them, even over Chinese teams with possibly better stories. And if you don't think that the Chinese root just as hard for their own teams as we do for ours they're disillusioned.
It's not racist or xenophobic to do this. This should be ESPECIALLY well known on this website, which is mostly ex-starcraft and SC2 players. We stayed up all night to watch starleagues to see the very highest level of play and continued to watch the tournaments even after all of our foreign hopes were eliminated by the completely dominant Koreans. So what if people chant USA USA USA when EG wins? It's simple fanboyism. Some of the comparisons I saw are just ridiculous. Some people even compared it to pre-WW2 German nationalism. LOL. If you root for a Chinese team for any reason, good for you. There's absolutely no reason to feel superior about it. People can be fans for any reason, and nearly all of them, including national origin, are valid.
Conclusion: Great TI. Finals had one great game and 3 good ones, not as hype as TI3 but miles ahead of TI4. I'd give my MVP award to Aggressif, he really carried CDEC despite Shiki's subpar play. If they still had maybe or had cty or something I think they win TI over EG, Shiki getting absolutely styled on by Sumail every game really hurt them. Proud of EG and the boys, Fear really deserves it and I'm always happy to see aui doing well. Disappointing showing for my favorites in C9, but at least Envy still has the dream of being first repeat TI winner. Changes have to be made. Looking forward greatly to the reshuffle period.
Thanks for reading if you made it.
